The Government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, highlighted the 21.3 million that the Government allocates through the Agri-food PERTE to the project ‘FG2H-From Green to Healthy’, which exemplifies the Government’s commitment to innovation and the search for more sustainable food. He did so during the visit to the facilities in O Porriño of the Spanish Company of Marine Algae (CEAMSA), one of the firms that participates in it.
The delegate had the opportunity to know at first hand the project in which CEAMSA participates together with 24 other companies, including the Galician Rotogal, and which seeks to promote the healthy food industry through digitalization, innovation and sustainability and, in particular, to look for new sustainable proteins from algae. The initiative has an aid of 21.37 million euros from the Government (20.6 million in the form of a grant and 777,000 euros in an interest-free loan) that will allow to mobilize a total investment of 111 million euros until June 2025.
“This is another example of the Government’s Recovery Plan funds reaching Galician companies and doing so to transform our economy towards a more digital and sustainable model,” said Pedro Blanco, who stressed that the company will mobilize 4.6 million through the Agri-Food PERTE for the development of new technologies for the sector aimed at algae-based products and the acquisition of equipment that allows an improvement in the automation and digitalization of the company’s processes that reduce its footprint in the environment.
Also in terms of sustainability, he recalled that CEAMSA was the only Galician firm benefiting from the lines of aid to innovation and sustainability plans of the manufacturing industry in the year 2022 of the Ministry of Industry. The company received 5.8 million euros (726,785 euros of grant and a zero rate loan of 5,087,495 euros) from the funds of the Recovery Plan for a biomass boiler for drying algae at a cost of 7.3 million euros.
In this regard, the delegate highlighted the Government’s commitment to innovative solutions that improve people’s lives. “We are talking about a historical investment by the Government, with about 3 billion euros of the Recovery Plan that have already reached more than 25,000 signatures in our community, more than 7,000 in the province of Pontevedra, which shows that the Government of Pedro Sánchez is the best ally of Galician companies,” he said.
Four projects involving Galicia
Pedro Blanco reported that the Agri-Food PERTE mobilizes about 2 billion euros in aid through its different calls managed by the Ministries of Industry, Agriculture and Science. The first of these calls was managed by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and in it were selected 4 projects in which companies from Galicia participate and which receive aid from the Government of 54 million euros.
Thus, in addition to ‘FG2T-From Green To Healthy’, there is the ‘SMARTZ4MILK’ project, led by the Lence group, which seeks to improve the traceability of milk and of which 8 companies are part; ‘Graperte’, promoted by the Spanish Federation of the Vineyard with 19 companies, among the three Galician wineries (Martín Códax, Terras Gauda and Venía Costera), and the ‘AccelerEAT’ project, in which the Galician Hifas de la Tierra and Innolact companies participate.
“Galician companies know that they can count on the Government and the funds of the Recovery Plan, which comes from being expanded by Brussels, which shows that we are doing things and in that line we will continue, on the side of companies,” said the delegate, who encouraged not to miss the historic opportunity that the funds of the Government Recovery Plan represent for the transformation and modernization of the Galician productive model.